In Vitro Selection of DNA Aptamers for the Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

O. Selivanova, M. ZhengNational Institute of Standards and Technology, US

Keywords: aptamers, carbon nanotbues, DNA, SELEX

Summary:

Aptamers are nucleic acid oligonucleotides selected from random DNA sequence libraries. They exhibit high affinity and selectivity to various targets thus serving as the molecular recognition elements. DNA aptamers are typically selected via a Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX) procedure. In this work we use the SELEX method to identify DNA aptamers that strongly bind and recognize the single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT). DNA is known to bind to SWCNTs, which has been used for the SWCNT separation into individual chirality and uniform lengths. SELEX will allow identification of the strongest binding sequences that will aid in the design of the SWCNT separation technology and nano-medicine applications. In this work we perform several selection rounds via SWCNT-DNA binding followed by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). After several rounds only the strongest SWCNT binding DNA sequences remain, which are identified via cloning followed by sequencing. The sequence pattern revealed will be discussed.